| dc.description.abstract | Rabbits are born blind and deaf and receive unusually limited maternal
care. Consequently, their suckling young heavily rely on the olfactory
cue for nipple attachment. However, the postnatal morphofunctional
adaptations of olfactory mucosa (OM) are not fully elucidated. To clarify
on the extent and the pattern of refinement of the OM following birth in
the rabbit, morphologic and morphometric analysis of the mucosa were
done at neonatal (0–1 days), suckling (2 weeks), weanling (4 weeks), and
adult (6–8 months) stages of postnatal development. In all the age
groups, the basic components of the OM were present. However, proliferative
activity of cells of the mucosal epithelium decreased with increasing
age as revealed by Ki-67 immunostaining. Diameters of axon bundles,
packing densities of olfactory cells, and cilia numbers per olfactory cell
knob increased progressively with age being 5.5, 2.1, and 2.6 times,
respectively, in the adult as compared with the neonate. Volume fraction
values for the bundles increased by 5.3% from birth to suckling age and
by 7.4% from weaning to adulthood and the bundle cores were infiltrated
with blood capillaries in all ages except in the adult where such vessels
were lacking. The pattern of cilia projection from olfactory cell knobs also
showed age-related variations, that is, arose as a tuft from the tips of the
knobs in neonates and sucklings and in a radial pattern from the knob
bases in weanlings and adults. These morphological changes may be
attributed to the high olfactory functional demand associated with postnatal
development in the rabbit. Anat Rec, 295:1352–1363, 2012. VC 2012
Wiley Periodicals, Inc | en |
